


The morning after Christmas (will be a better one).

by mkhhhx



Series: Monsta X Bingo W2018/19 [1]
Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Break Up, Christmas, Coffee Shops, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Monsta X Bingo, Previous Hoseok/Changkyun, Some Humor, Tea, debatably
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 13:13:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17023251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mkhhhx/pseuds/mkhhhx
Summary: Ways to make working on Christmas night a little less boring 101.





	The morning after Christmas (will be a better one).

**Author's Note:**

> For the "Coffee shop" square~

Hyungwon polishes the counter one more time. He walks back and forth, pushes some buttons on the turned off coffee machine, sniffs the tea bags in front of him for no reason. He’s trying to not look at the clock on the wall, knowing there are still too many hours left.

He’s not sure why the manager decided that keeping the café open at Christmas night was a good idea. On other days there are a couple stray students or hangover club-goes littering the wooden chairs at the very late or very early hours of the day. But on Christmas? There isn’t a single soul. It’s probably been more than an hour since Hyungwon even spotted a car passing by.

He slumps on his stool lifelessly, his spotless uniform creaking. He takes his glasses off and tucks them in his breast pocket, rubbing his eyes. Nights are so slow and mornings are exhausting. At least he won’t have to attend any classes for more than a week since university is closed for the holidays. He smiles momentarily, thinking he can spend his days in bed and maybe go out for shopping or to meet friends at afternoons. He yawns and stares at the glass exterior of the store, snow dancing in the strong wind outside.

His eyes are closing, he feels his breath getting slower and the café’s heating system is hitting him the right way. He decides that getting a few minutes, or the rest of his shift, of sleep won’t do any harm.

Then a soft thud echoes in the almost empty space. The bell above the door chimes and someone enters.

Hyungwon is up on his feet in milliseconds, trying to look more awake and less disheveled.

He takes a look at the man who just entered and thinks he might be homeless, coming in to escape from the cold weather. Judging from the suit he’s wearing beneath his cardigan he’s probably not, but something doesn’t add up. The empty bottle of wine he’s holding on one hand. Hyungwon is really too tired to really care.

“Merry Christmas sir, how can I help you?” He says, using his overly sweet customer voice.

The man completely ignores him, falling on a chair and letting his head flat on the table, placing the empty bottle next to his feet. Hyungwon watches him groaning and his eyes are so red that he looks like he was crying for hours.

“Can you fill it?” The man says in a too low voice, pushing the bottle towards Hyungwon with his feet.

Hyungwon stares at him. The man’s undone tie and messy hair and now he can clearly make out his tear stained cheeks.

“I’m sorry sir, this is a coffee shop.” He doesn’t even know what’s up with the dude but he feels sorry for him. Guess worse things than working on Christmas can happen. “We don’t sell alcohol.”

“Fuck my life.” The man whispers, burying his face in his hands. “This night keeps getting worse.”

“Uhm” Hyungwon stands, unsure of what to do and for some moments there’s complete silence again and he can almost faintly smell the wine. He takes some steps and realizes the man smells mostly of strong cologne. “Do you want some tea? My treat?”

He’s not usually the one to treat customers, or feel kind-hearted, but the combination of Christmas and tiredness makes him a little bit softer.

The stranger gives a slow nod and Hyungwon turns on the kettle and takes two cups.

“Lemon?” He shows the man a small green pack, his personal favorite.

“Sure, whatever.” The man gives him a weak smile, looking the tiniest bit more sober, his cheeks getting back to a more healthy looking pink color.

“Enjoy.” Hyungwon sets one steaming paper cup on the table and holds the second in his hands.

“Why don’t you join me?” The man asks and Hyungwon takes a seat opposed to him. “I’m Changkyun,” he states, “I had a very shitty night, how about you?”

“I was having a very boring night before you came in.” Hyungwon answers, watching Changkyun taking his cardigan off, then his blazer and throwing his tie away too, left in a pink button up and blue slacks.

“Glad to entertain.” Changkyun takes a sip of his tea and holds it between his hands like something precious.

“So, what happened?” Hyungwon dares ask. Truly unprofessional, but there isn’t really much to expect in the current situation. Changkyun exhales loudly.

“I broke up with my boyfriend. Or he broke up with me. Not sure.” He rolls his sleeves, probably getting warm with the heating and the tea and Hyungwon spots a tiny tattoo on his wrist.

“That sucks.” He doesn’t have anything better to say, but any conversation is welcome if it means the clock will strike six, the end of his shift a little sooner. “I’m here if you wanna talk.”

“Look” Changkyun says, with the face of an a hundred years old man who has been through four wars and an ice age, “we were too good together, but he just…there was just this one thing…”

“What thing?” Hyungwon puts some sugar in his tea and blows the liquid until he can comfortably lick the surface before sipping.

“His mum.” Changkyun looks up with tired eyes. He can’t be much older than Hyungwon, but he has been through some shit.

“Elaborate?” Hyungwon is up for some family drama.

“I mean, she is great, a very kind and nice lady, I don’t have any problem with her.” Changkyun stretches, taking his time to answer. But that’s okay, the sky is still dark and they have plenty of time. “Hoseok, that’s my boyfriend, always wanted to be near her. Like some kind of big baby.”

“Oh.”

“It was cute at first and frankly, I didn’t mind being around her, but it was getting more and more irritating.”

“I’m sorry.”

“We have been dating for four and a half years, but I don’t think we can try again after today.”

“Did you break up about this?”

“Yeah, let me tell you.” Changkyun places his elbows on the table, bringing himself closer to Hyungwon. “I’ve booked a nice, expensive restaurant for us, candles, mistletoes, everything sappy and cute he liked.”

“Mhm” Hyungwon hums, bracing himself for the inevitably bad part of the story.

“Not even halfway in the second course he says we should return to his house afterwards because he can’t leave his mum alone. I got angry and told him she’s a grown woman and we can spend some time without thinking of her. He told me she’s way more important than me and I should respect that I’ll always get second place in his heart. I took the bottle of wine and left.”

Changkyun finishes talking with a sheepish smile and he looks like he’s on the verge of tears.

“You walked alone in the snow for so many hours?”

“Yeah” Changkyun shrugs, drinking the last of his tea with a loud slurp.

“Half-drunk?”

“Yeah” Changkyun grins, but it’s the kind of grin someone displays when they know they fucked up and they are laughing with themselves.

“It’s like a miracle you’re still alive, you could have frozen your ass off out there.” Hyungwon spares a look outside again, the lamp light illuminating the street. It has stopped snowing, but there’s a thick layer of white on everything and the temperatures have fallen way below zero.

“Then it’s a good thing I found this café.” Changkyun bites the paper cup and holds it between his teeth, muffling his speech, “I swear there isn’t anything else open in a ten kilometer radius.”

“Oh I’m sure.” Hyungwon smiles, thinking that not letting someone freeze outside on Christmas must be his good deed of the year. Even if keeping the store open wasn’t really his choice.

Changkyun starts dozing off and so is Hyungwon, but he tries keeping his eyes open. Changkyun snores lightly for some time, Hyungwon covering him with his cardigan and going behind the counter to clean once more, makes sure everything is in place and takes some muffins and donuts out of the freezer for the morning shift.

Light starts creeping inside the store and Hyungwon knows his time will soon be over, contemplates waking up Changkyun and offering him a ride home.

At six sharp, Hyunwoo enters, gives a questioning look at the mass sleeping on one of the tables and then gets behind the counter to wish Hyungwon Merry Christmas and give him a little sock filled with chocolates and lollipops.

Hyungwon makes the usual coffees for the two of them, one for Hyunwoo to start his day and one for himself to not fall asleep behind the wheel.

“What’s up with him?” Hyunwoo points at Changkyun, still soundly sleeping.

“Let him be” Hyungwon says, taking a cup off the pile and scribbling something on it before pushing it towards Hyunwoo. “Make him a coffee when he wakes up and charge it on me, he’ll need it.”

 

 

When Changkyun wakes up, he’s too confused, thinks he imagined breaking up with his boyfriend and walking half-drunk into a café in the middle of the night. Then he realizes he is, in fact, still in the same café and a couple of eyes, the sole other customer and the barista are staring at him.

“So how do you want your coffee sir?” The barista asks loudly and Changkyun hopes his wallet is still intact in one of his pockets while placing his order.

He’s still convinced the cute barista from last night was a product of his imagination, but when his coffee arrives there’s a “You owe me a tea –Hyungwon” and a number messily written under it on his cup.

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


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